The Final Tarp System

I have perfected a way to keep your pick-up truck bed and everything else tidy and also to save time unloading. If you are one of those weird people that has a truck and are anal about keeping it clean but love to garden, you MUST read this. I worked out this system over the past few years, perfecting it this spring.

WARNING: Please be aware of the weight capacity of your vehicle. Most things I haul are pretty light. A load of gravel that is the same VOLUME as mulch is much heavier and can do considerable damage to your suspension. When in doubt ask how much it weighs and consult your owner's manual.

What follows is a detailed explanation with photos that explicitly shows you too how to be a master of mulch and other bulk things, just like me. The 1st photo shows the final set-up. The key is to use 2 tarps. One should be larger than your truck bed, the other may be smaller. I have a compact truck. If it were full sized, I would need slightly larger tarps. I will trust you to do your own math, but get 2 new unscathed tarps for this. I have tarps I use for other things but these are my truckbed tarps.

The tarps however must be firmly secured. For this you need 3 four foot bungee cords, 2 carabiners and a weight, I use a brick. This picture shows where one carbiner and bungee cord goes. Remember, the cab tarp goes on top of the bed tarp. The brick(weight) goes on top of the cab to keep the cab tarp from blowing over.You kinda need rearview mirrors on both sides of your truck. If you don't have that well, I guess that will be a puzzle for you to solve. It's a good idea to make sure your windows are rolled up too.

The 3rd bungee cord goes under your tailgate, which should be kept open. You want the large tarp to fall outside the bed, sorta like a piecrust.

Here you see what an inexact science it is to dump a load of whatever into the bed of a truck. Some operators are pretty good. My guy knows whats up but some are pretty sloppy. Anyway, he doesn't worry about messing up my truck when I come around.

I did a post last fall showing my tarp method, but not with these improvements. If you compare, you'll see that this is superior.

I should do a post about saving time and effort when doing a drop-off. I developed a lasagna method of filling my truck with yard waste which I am certain more landscapers would use, especially small scale ones, once they realized how much time it saves.